Rail-joint.



W. E. BAKER.

RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FlLED FEB. 21. 1911.

1,227,364 Patented May 22, 1917.

I IZZZL WEB FMER WILLIAM E. BAKER, 0F WACO, TEXAS.

RAIL-JOINT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 22, 1917.

Application filed February 21, 19171" Serial No. 150,118.

' To all whom it may concern: I, WILLIAM E. BAKER,

Be it known that a citizen of the United States, residing at Waco, inthe county of McLennan, State of Texas, have invented a new and usefulRail- J oint, and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and-exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to certain new and useful improvements inrail joints,

-. which enables the conventional of the rails at all portions and hasfor its object to provide a device of this character which embodiesnovel features of construction whereby a solid abutment is providedbetween the adjusting ends the tread, the tread portions of the railends being maintained in a spaced relation so that the projecting lipsor noses which are ordinarily formed upon the tread portions by thepassage of heavy rolling stock over the joint will be prevented fromrubbing against each other and being broken off upwardly in such amanner as to form receding pits in the treads.

Further objects of the invention are to provide a rail joint of thischaracter which does not involve any appreciable increase in cost overthe conventional rail joint, splice bars to be used, and which holds therail ends rigidly in alinement with each other and provides thenecessary [solid abutment between the lower portions of the rail ends.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certainnovel combinations and arrangements of the parts as will more fullyappear as the description proceeds, the novel features thereof beingpointed out in the appended claims.

For a full understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to thefollowing description and accompanying drawings, in

which on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

thereof except Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of the interposedspacing plate.' 1 Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the middle portion of arail joint, showing a slight modification of the invention.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the samereference characters.

Specifically describing the present embodiment of the invention, thenumerals 1 designate the abutting ends of a pair of rails which are ofthe standard cross section, and are supported in the usual manner uponthe ties 2. Splice bars 3 are fitted in the fishing spaces of the railends on opposite sides thereof, said splice bars being secured to therails by the usual bOlts 4: and being formed with horizontally extendingbase flanges 3 which project over the basal flanges of the rail ends 1and are secured to the ties by suitable fastening means such as thespikes 5. The rail ends are adapted, as usual, to have a slightlongitudinal play within the splice bars 3 in order to comgensate forthe expansion and contraction no to changes of temperature. When therail ends are spaced slightly apart, the passage of heavy rolling stockover the joint tends to form longitudinally projecting lips at the treadportions of the rail ends, as indicated by 1. In many instances, afterthese lips I have formed, the rail ends are jammed tightly together.This almost invariably happens upon hills and down grades, where theconstant passage of traflic over the track tends to cause the rails tocreep longitudinally. Where the rail ends are thus jammed tightlytogether, the noses or lips 1 rub up and down upon each other each timea heavy load passes over the joint, with the result that the lips soonbreak upwardly and inwardly, substantially as indicated by the dottedlines A on Fig. 1, leaving receding pits in the tread portions of therail ends. These pits are sufficiently large to cause an objectionablejarring and jolting of the rolling stock as it passes over the joint,and they gradually grow larger under the almost continual hammering ofthe rolling stock thereon, with the result that the rails soon become,worn out and must be replaced with-new rails.

With the resent construction this difficulty is avoi ed by the use of athin spacing plate 6 which is interposed between tion so that the nosesor lips 1 which may form thereon will be prevented from forciblyengaging and rubbing up and down upon each other each time a heavy loadpasses over the joint. The noses or lips 1.

are thus prevented from being broken upwardly and forming the largereceding pits or recesses in the'treads of the rail ends. The life ofthe rails is 'thus greatly prolonged, since as the lips work out farenough the wheels of the rolling stock will break them off downwardly,the rupture being substantially in the form of a vertical shear flushwith the end of the rail, and not accompanied by the formation of a receding pit in the tread of the rail. In other words, instead of each lipor nose being broken upwardly by the opposite lip or nose in such amanner as to form a pit in the tread of the rail, the noses will besheared oif vertically by the weight of the wheels as soon as they havebeen rolled out a suflicient distance by the action of the rollingstock.

This thin spacing plate 6 is formed with an upper set of lateral flanges6 which engage the upper edges of the splice bars 3 to hold-the spacingplate against downward movement, and also with a lower set of laterallyextending flanges 6 which engage the lower edges of the splice bars 3 toprevent upward movement of the spacing plate. These lateral flangescorrespond in configuration to theparts of the rail ends against whichthey fit, so that the spacing plate has substantially the shape of arail cross sec-' tion with the tread portion thereof removed.

A slight modificatlon 1s shown by Fig. 5,

in which the rail ends 1 have the abutting faces thereof cut away ornotched at 7, thereby providing a solid abutment between the lowerportions of the rail ends, while.

the tread portions thereof are always held in a spaced relation. Thisresults, exactly as in the previous instance, in preventing the noses 1from forcibly rubbing up and .down against each other and breaking oflupwardly to form receding pits in the treads of the rails.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A rail joint including the adjacent ends of a pair of rails, splicebars applied thereto, and a thin spacing plate interposed between therail ends and terminating below the treads thereof so as to provide asolid abutment between the lower portions of the rail ends and hold thetread portions thereof in a spaced relation,said spacing plate beingprovided with means for engaging the splice bars to hold it againstvertical movement.

2. A rail joint including the adjacent ends of a pair of rails, splicebars applied thereto, and a thin spacing plate interposed between therail ends and terminating below the treads thereof to provide a solidabutment between the lower portions of the rail ends and hold the treadportions thereof in a spaced relation, said spacing plate being formedwith upper and lower sets of laterally projecting flanges which engagethe splice bars to hold the plate against vertical movement.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM E. BAKER.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM F. SONNEMAN, M. W. LARMoNE.

